Press
The Telegraph, April 2011
For great value and laidback luxury, stay at Finca Malvasia, a guesthouse and vineyard offering accommodation in four well-equipped, whitewashed self-catering cottages (home-cooked breakfasts are available on request), sleeping between two and five, each with a private garden or terrace. Arranged around a lagoon-style solar-heated pool, Finca Malvasia is a cool, rustic-contemporary oasis, and its young British owners, Tarnya and Richard Norse-Evans, offer enthusiastic, unobtrusive service. There is plenty to indulge in onsite, from lying by the pool to in-room spa treatments and sessions in the volcanic yoga room.
The Times, January 2011
On a working vineyard in the island's wine region, a few kilometres away from Parque Nacional de Timanfaya, the four whitewashed cottages of Finca Malvasia have been designed in the style of Cesar Manrique, a local artist and architect. Funky furniture and bold splashes of colour combine with natural elements such as exposed volcanic stone.
The Guardian, December 2010
Lanzarote's volcanic interior is other-worldly beauty, stark and unsettling. Embrace the solitude at Finca Malvasia, four white cottages surrounded by fields of black ash.
The Times, Hot 100 Hotels in Europe, May 2010
Slowly but surely, with the help of the odd Almodovar film and some celebrity sightings, Lanzarote is shaking off the all-day-breakfast image of the other Canaries. Photogenic Finca Malvasia leads the trend: four lava-stone apartments around a cool-kitschy pool and cactus-strewn gardens, each in bright colours, with fully equipped kitchens.
Woman & Home, February 2010
For the calm, not the clamorous, Canaries, head to the central vineyards of Lanzarote. Here, you'll find Finca Malvasia's four retro-chic cottages (think Marimekko fabrics and Heal's rugs), which share a pool. Bliss out on yoga classes and spa treatments or ask the owners to arrange painting, horse-riding or golf.
The Times, January 2010
Finca Malvasia consists of four apartments around a heated pool in a quiet setting surrounded by volcanic mountains and vineyards. The two-person Bodega apartment is minimalist.
Daily Express, October 2009
Amid a lunar landscape of jet black cinder and volcanic peaks lie four stylish self-catering cottages splashed with purple bougainvillea and olive-green palm leaves. Two years ago, ex-Londoners Richard and Tarnya Norse-Evans fell in love with the white beaches and dramatic mountainous interior of Lanzarote – but not its characterless hotels.
They transformed a finca – a working vineyard – on the edge of Masdache village into the kind of guesthouse that fashionable outdoor types would choose for sunshine and solitude. The interiors combine rustic terracotta floor tiles and dark wood furniture with retro scatter rugs from Heal’s and Marimekko screen prints. A hearty organic breakfast including locally baked bread and homemade preserves can be delivered to each private patio. Outside, a heated swimming pool has been cut out of volcanic rock.
The Observer, October 2008
"Cacti and palm trees are dotted around Finca Malvasia's beautifully lit swimming pool, a blue oasis around which nestle seven single-storey white-washed lodges. The finca - a small farm in the village of Masdache - is still and calm, surrounded by vineyards and brooding hills. The old farm building next to the lodges has retained many original features, and the landscaped gardens are perfect for reclining on sun loungers and enjoying one of the many types of massage on offer.
Richard and Tarnya, the English couple who run the finca, sold their London-based software firm a few years back and ploughed some of the money into turning the finca into the sort of place that inevitably earns the label 'boutique' but in this case comes without any of the po-faced haughtiness such places often inspire.
Instead of luxuriating in their success, they are keen to put something back into the island. Both are learning Spanish and their three-year-old son, Joss, is enrolled in the local kindergarten. They buy from neighbouring farmers and markets to prepare their delicious tagine and paella dinners, which are served in private on the terraces outside each lodge. One day, they hope to develop their own-label wine from their vineyards surrounding the finca."
Conde Nast Traveller, July 2008
"Known as the 'Hawaii of Europe' for its waves, Lanzarote now has award-winning wines and restaurants that should appeal to food-loving surfers. The stylish Finca Malvasia, set in its own vineyard, is offering week-long stays on a bed-and-breakfast basis which include individual surf tuition at Famara beach and a massage, plus an evening of local food - and wine-tasting back at the finca, and another on which a surfer's supper is served."
Marie Claire, February 2008
"Lanzarote is the best dressed of the Canary Islands, with bright volcanic scenery and pretty houses painted in green and white. Stay inland at the newly opened Finca Malvasia, which has a pool, a spa and vineyards."
Conde Nast Traveller, January 2008
"Where to Celebrate New Year's Eve with a bang you'll never forget. Lanzarote New Year tradition: Wear your best red underwear for luck; eat 12 grapes and make 12 wishes as the clock chimes 12. Finca Malvasia: chic self-catering suites run by a British surfer."
The Guardian, November 2007
"The four boutique apartments of Finca Malvasia, set in an old working vineyard, have been transformed by a young British couple, Tarnya and Richard Norse-Evans, who fell in love with the island and its surf a decade ago and finally permanently relocated there earlier this year.
They offer a nicely personal take on chic self-catering apartments, which they have refitted with appropriately mid-century modernist furnishings. Guests can order platters of local produce for breakfast, get surf lessons or guided trips with Richard or indulge in spa, massage and yoga treatments in a pleasing round stone hut on the edge of the vineyard.
The couple are also a mine of useful information about everything from the best secret surf spots to local wines, and on the first evening served up a very decent bottle of white made from the grapes from their own vineyard."
